Help Me Debunk This CRAP!
I know this is a bunch of crap, but I don't have time to debunk it, and you guys are so smart you can do it quickly for me! Thanks!
Obama Accused of Military 'Purge'
The United States military is being "purged" of officers suspected of disloyalty to or disagreement with the Obama administration, several sources charge.
"We recognize President Obama is the commander-in-chief and that throughout history presidents from Lincoln to Truman have seen fit to remove military commanders they view as inadequate or insubordinate," Investor's Business Daily (IBD) observed.
"Yet what has happened to our officer corps since President Obama took office is viewed in many quarters as unprecedented, baffling, and even harmful to our national security posture."
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely believes Obama is "intentionally weakening and gutting our military and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged."
According to Breitbart.com, at least 197 officers, mostly at the rank of colonel or above, have been relieved of duty for a variety of reasons, or for no stated reason at all.
Nine senior commanding generals have been fired by the administration this year, "leading to speculation by active and retired members of the military that a purge of its commanders is underway," IBD reported.
Among those officers:
Gen. Carter Ham was relieved as head of U.S. Africa Command because he disagreed with orders not to mount a rescue effort in response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Benghazi, Libya.
Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette, commander of Carrier Strike Group Three, was relieved of duty in October 2012 for disobeying orders when he sent his group to assist and provide intelligence for forces ordered into action by Gen. Ham, according to IBD.
Two nuclear commanders were fired in a single week — Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, head of the Air Force unit that maintains control of 450 intercontinental missiles, and Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the No. 2 officer at U.S. Strategic Command. Carey was sacked "due to a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment," while Giardina lost his post for allegedly using counterfeit gambling chips at a casino.
Maj. Gen. Ralph Baker, commander of the Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, was fired for alcohol use and sexual misconduct charges. Defense officials told CNN the reason was “loss of confidence.”
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus was terminated for questioning the "winning hearts and minds" policies that led to the murders of U.S. officers by Afghan recruits, according to FrontPage magazine.
Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller was relieved of his command in Afghanistan after he told a media source that Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials were "isolated from reality."
On the last day of November 2011, the administration terminated 157 Air Force majors, citing budget shortfalls as the primary reason — a move that some legal experts said was illegal.
According to IBD, a senior retired general said on the condition of anonymity that "they're using the opportunity of the shrinkage of the military to get rid of people that don't agree with them or do not toe the party line."
FrontPage concluded: "Obama has made clear that he will aggressively pursue anyone who defies his agenda. Now it seems that chilling message has been sent to the military as well."
= new reply since forum marked as read
I dunno. I have a lot of crazy freeper relatives who live on the other side of the country who only seem to float into my life around the holidays and invariably one will forward some crazy nonsense like this (which can be old) while i'm at work and have lots of running around with kids stuff to look forward to when home, so I can relate to wanting to ask for help. And DU is full of smart people who often help out with that stuff. I can't help though. Know nothing about the military. Maybe someone else will have a better response? The mention of Brietbart would have stopped the conversation for me. Might as well be saying UFOs have been sighted piloted by Elvis.
It's a "trifecta" of conservative axe-grinding sites. That fact does not by itself refute the claims, but it does force one to note:
It's all second-hand reporting, with third-hand commentary from radical sources. (Frontpage is the playpen of David Horowitz (the page banner reads "Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out"
, and Breitbart's major claims to 'journalistic' fame are fraudulently-edited videos, so I think the description is apt.)
Just how many layers of spin are the slivers of truth in there buried under?
This sounds just like "The Clinton Body Count" lists, which took the mundane deaths of a number of people with some if-you-squint-real-hard connection to the Clintons and wove them into a tale of an Arkansas Murder Inc. with Don Bubba as its capo.
Then again, readers of Newsmax, FrontPagve, and Breitbart are the sorts of people who slurped up that tale too.
